Blog Post

I live inside the systems I help evaluate.

Every website, app, form, and digital workflow I interact with shapes my daily independence. Some remove barriers. Others quietly create new ones. Over time, this constant interaction has given me something more than frustration or resilience. It has given me expertise.

Lived experience is often treated as personal or anecdotal. In accessibility work, it should be treated as professional knowledge. This post explores how lived experience strengthens accessibility outcomes and why organizations benefit when disabled user experts are involved early and meaningfully.

Lived Experience Is Ongoing Expertise

When disabled people talk about access barriers, our experiences are often framed as isolated feedback. But lived experience is not a single moment. It is repeated, daily interaction with systems that were not designed with us in mind.

As a disabled professional, I navigate:

• Digital interfaces that assume mouse and keyboard use
• Timed actions that assume that everyone works and processes information at the same speed
• Content structures that disrupt screen reader flow
• Workflows that break under real-world conditions
• Products that technically meet guidelines but fail users

Over time, patterns emerge. Those patterns become insight. That insight becomes expertise.

This kind of expertise cannot be simulated. It is built through lived interaction, adaptation, and analysis.

Accessibility Is More Than Compliance

Accessibility standards and guidelines are essential. I rely on them in my work. But compliance alone does not guarantee access.

A product can meet technical requirements and still be unusable.

This often happens when:

• Accessibility is treated as a final audit
• Disabled users are consulted too late
• Compliance is prioritized over usability
• Lived experience is separated from decision-making

User experts help bridge the gap between what passes and what actually works.

What Disabled User Experts Contribute

Disabled professionals bring more than issue lists. We bring context.

User experts contribute:

• Early identification of barriers before they become costly fixes
• Insight into how multiple issues interact and compound
• Real-world testing beyond ideal conditions
• Clear explanations of impact, not just errors

Most importantly, we help teams shift perspective. Accessibility becomes practical and human, not abstract or theoretical.

For Clients: How This Shapes My Work

When organizations work with me, they are not just hiring a tester. They are partnering with \someone who understands accessibility from the inside out.

My approach combines:

• Lived experience as a disabled user
• Professional accessibility testing and evaluation
• Standards-based analysis grounded in real use
• Clear, actionable communication for teams

This means I focus not only on what fails but also on why it matters and how it affects real people. I help teams prioritize issues, understand risk, and make decisions that lead to more usable outcomes.

Clients often tell me this perspective helps them:

• Catch issues earlier in the process
• Understand user impact more clearly
• Move beyond checkbox accessibility
• Build more trustworthy digital experiences

Accessibility is not an add-on to my work. It is the lens through which I evaluate everything.

Advocacy as Professional Practice

For many disabled professionals, advocacy is not separate from our work. It is part of how we ensure systems improve.

Turning lived experience into professional expertise means:

• Claiming lived knowledge as valid and valuable
• Pairing experience with structured skills and credentials
• Moving from personal adaptation to systemic change
• Naming barriers clearly and responsibly

Advocacy, when done well, strengthens organizations. It leads to better decisions, not conflict.

Why Hiring Disabled Professionals Matters

Accessibility improves when disabled people are part of the process, not just the feedback loop.

Organizations that engage disabled professionals:

• Reduce risk earlier in development
• Build products that work for more people
• Increase credibility and trust
• Create more sustainable accessibility practices

Hiring disabled professionals is not charity. It is a sound design and risk-management strategy.

Conclusion

Lived experience is not something I bring to my work as an extra. It is the foundation of how I understand accessibility, usability, and inclusion.

Accessibility is strongest when it is informed by people who live with its consequences every day. User experts do not replace guidelines. We make them meaningful.

If accessibility is your goal, lived experience should be part of your strategy.

Call to Action

If you are designing, building, or maintaining digital experiences:

• Include disabled professionals early
• Compensate lived experience as expertise
• Move beyond compliance toward usability
• Design with users, not just for them

Accessibility works best when it works in real lives.

Turning Lived Experience into Professional Expertise

Lived experience is often described as “personal” or “anecdotal.”

In accessibility work, that framing misses the point.

Lived experience is not a story told once. It is a daily, repeated interaction with systems that were not designed for disabled users. Over time, that interaction builds pattern recognition, awareness of impact, and real expertise.

As an accessibility professional, my lived experience does not sit alongside my work. It shapes how I evaluate usability, risk, and real-world impact. It’s why I can often quickly identify barriers, explain why they matter, and help teams move beyond mere accessibility checkmarks.

Compliance is important. But compliance alone does not guarantee access.

Accessible products are stronger when disabled professionals are involved early, meaningfully, and as paid experts, not just as last-minute testers or sources of feedback.

Accessibility works best when the people most affected by it are part of the process.